The Charge

The Case

When Warner Bros. boarded up Termite Terrace in 1963, animators such as Friz
Freleng struck out on their own. Hooking up with fellow WB alum, producer Dave
DePatie, the two went into business together. Their first assignment: The
opening title sequence for Blake Edwards' comedy The Pink Panther. The new character
was such a hit, United Artists financed the pair to create a series of
theatrical animated shorts, and then a Saturday morning television series
starring not only on the Pink Panther, but other characters as well—The
Ant and the Aardvark, Roland and Rattfink, Tijuana Toads, and The Inspector,
inspired by Peter Sellers magnificent creation, Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

While not a literal translation, this Inspector—voiced by Pat
Harrington Jr., best known for his work as Schneider on One Day at a
Time—shares many characteristics of his live action counterpart: naive
arrogance, obliviousness, and a complete inability to deduce anything. Where
they differ can be found in his animated sidekick Deux-Deux (also voiced by
Harrington). This Spanish-born police officer working in the service of the
French Sûreté takes on the comic relief role, leaving The Inspector to
play the straight man, just the opposite of Sellers' role in the films. As a
kid, it didn't matter, as here was one of my favorite movie characters on
Saturday mornings alongside Scooby-Doo, Goober and the Ghost
Chasers, Clue Club, and Charlie Chan and the Chan Clan. Can't
tell I'm a fan of the mystery genre, can you?

Unfortunately, more than 30 years later, the jokes aren't as original or as
funny. Part of the reason for this is these 17 shorts were never intended to be
viewed back-to-back. Seeing them in this form brings out the multitude of
redundancies in plot, characterization, dialogue, and production design. Played
in anthology rotation, you would tend to forget much of what you saw the last
time these characters appeared. Here, it hits you over the head continuously in
seven-minute bursts for two solid hours.

The biggest disappointment for me is in the performance of one of my
heroes—the incomparable Paul Frees. Widely considered to be one of the
finest voice actors of all time, there's unfortunately very little use if his
incredible range on display here. Many of the series' nefarious villains sound
very much like the long-lost siblings of Rocky & Bullwinkle's Boris
Badenov; and the Commissioner's voice (complete with German accent?) will become
that of Burgermeister Meisterburger in the 1970 classic Santa Claus is Coming
to Town.

Visually, The Inspector draws upon the abstract pencil over
watercolor style made popular by Ken Anderson in Disney's 101 Dalmatians, as well as
many of the later Warner Bros. shorts. This combined with a healthy utilization
of Hanna-Barbera's background reuse methodology, give the series a minimalist
feel. I wouldn't go so far as to call it cheap, but it's definitely not on par
Freleng's best work at Warner Bros., some of which he borrows from quite
liberally.

Presented in 1.33:1 full frame, MGM has juiced the colors giving it a fresh
look. But a lack of cleanup on the print itself makes the dirt, grain, and
defects all that much more apparent on larger television screens. What's worse,
the Dolby 1.0 mono audio mix varies wildly from short to short, with some
showcasing strong dialogue while on others it is almost swallowed up completely.
You'll also notice the appearance and disappearance of a laugh track, depending
on the short, which leads me to wonder if it was layered on only for television.
If, in fact, this is a mixed bag of source negatives (theatrical and TV), that
would account for the audio degradation as well. And, as you might expect, this
is a bare bones release with no bonus features included and photostatic
menus.

While I can't in good conscience give Pink Panther and Friends: The
Inspector a glowing recommendation, much credit is owed to Pat Harrington
for carrying the success of these shorts squarely on his shoulders. Without his
performance as both The Inspector and Deux-Deux, these characters would have
been long forgotten.

If you are a fan of the series intent on purchasing this collection, I urge
you to digest these episodes in small doses. Watching them in marathon fashion
will only sour your experience.